Playing the title character’s boss on the FOX medical drama House has raised Lisa Edelstein’s profile at home and elsewhere, as she discovered on a vacation to Israel with her family over the summer. “I had paparazzi problems. I had to sneak out of a restaurant,” she confides, but that was the only downside to the trip for the actress, who has relatives in Israel and last visited when she was 16. “It was pretty amazing to be around that many Jews, I have to tell you,” she marvels, adding, “The Israelis are so good looking!”

Alas, the single actress was kept too busy with family sightseeing activities to hunt for single men, save for one day in Tel Aviv when she “went out and flirted my butt off.” Otherwise, she and her nine relatives — including her parents, celebrating their 48th wedding anniversary — toured Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, Yad Vashem, and Masada. “My dad turned 70 and we sang to him on top of Masada,” notes Edelstein, who was also very moved by the Yad Vashem memorial. “Every brick is laid for a reason. It takes a long time to get through it and it’s devastating.”

For Edelstein, a vegetarian, the menu of organic vegetables at Moshav Amirim in Safed was also impressive. She’s sad that the war with Hezbollah escalated soon after she left and she fears for the safety of the Israelis, her family included. “My family there is not religious but they’re very proud to be Jewish,” she says, describing herself in the same terms. “I was so excited to see such a diverse group of Jewish people. I had a great time there and I really look forward to going back. I hope it’s still there.”